How Iran’s Justice System Abandons Women to Violence Artwork

NCRI Women's Committee

We work extensively with Iranian women outside the country and maintain a permanent contact with women inside Iran. The Women’s Committee is actively involved with many women’s rights organizations and NGO’s and the Iranian diaspora. The committee is a major source of much of the information received from inside Iran with regards to women. Attending UN Human Rights Council meetings and other international or regional conferences on women’s issues, and engaging in a relentless battle against the Iranian regime’s misogyny are part of the activities of members and associates of the committee.

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NCRI Women's Committee

How Iran’s Justice System Abandons Women to Violence

June 11, 2025 • NCRI Women's Committee • Season 4 • Episode 37

The Iranian legal system not only fails to protect women from gender-based violence—it actively enables it. Survivors of domestic abuse face a maze of bureaucratic obstacles, from police inaction to ineffective forensic procedures, all within a system that places the burden of proof entirely on the victim. Legal provisions that should help women are routinely ignored, while courts and police refuse to intervene meaningfully.

Women are shuffled between institutions, often without support or protection. Forensic evidence, while technically available, is easily dismissed by abusers and rarely leads to convictions. Cultural taboos, fear of retaliation, and lack of legal safeguards ensure that witnesses remain silent and victims give up.

The ultimate consequence is fatal: since early 2025, dozens of Iranian women have been murdered by male relatives, many after failed attempts to seek help. With no protective infrastructure—no shelters, no follow-up, no legal enforcement—many women are sent back to abusive homes, reinforcing a cycle of violence.

The article concludes that the Iranian regime is not just failing women—it is structurally complicit. Gender-based violence is not an unintended flaw but a deliberate result of a system built to uphold patriarchal control.

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